No. 8 Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez ended their season on Friday with a second round defeat against Oklahoma State’s No. 14 Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco, 4-6, 7-5, 8-10. In a match filled with nine deuce points, numerous errand shots and a healthy dose of I-formations, the Orange could not hold on after forcing a super tiebreak.

SU’s first doubles pairing opened the match up with three errors to drop the first point of the game. Babic commanded the net in the first couple of games, but her partner started to falter during serves. Blanco hit the net five times in the third game and faulted twice to give the Orange its first game of the match.

The conclusion of the first set centered around deuce points. With four of the last seven games of the set resulting in a 40-all score, SU could not capitalize. At 40-40 at 2-2 and 3-3, associate head coach Shelley George implored Ramirez to get closer to the net, but the sophomore was outshined by Blanco with her 5-foot-11-inch frame up close to take both points.

At 4-4, with Ramirez serving, the Orange started to play the I-formation. After consecutive failed serves, Ramirez elected to change strategies for the moment. With one of the deciding games on the line, Knutson attempted to recover a net cord that ultimately led her to fall onto one knee to go down 4-5. Down 15-40, Babic placed a forehand winner directly in the back left hand corner past the outstretched arms of Knutson, taking the first set.

SU opened the second set similarly to the first by getting swept to start. An airmailed shot from Ramirez, which left the Leighton Family Court parameters, topped off the early deficit for the Orange. After the changeover, SU recovered to go up 2-1 on a cross court volley from Ramirez to go up a break.

Knutson clinched two straight games at 40-all to help SU level at 3-3 midway through the second set. As the set winded down, the Cowboys started to employ an I-formation of its own when Blanco served. Unlike the Orange, who only used it five times in the first 15 games of the match, OSU began to attempt it on almost every first serve. SU held strong though, fought off the tactics and forced a super tiebreak.

Syracuse opened the super tiebreak firing, going up 5-1 at the first changeover. But it wouldn’t sustain. Eventually, OSU went on a run of its own to tie it at 6-6. After swapping the next four points, Babic ended SU’s season on two forehands to close out the match. Blanco and Babic screamed and embraced after the victory. Knutson and Ramirez walked off the court with their heads down in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The loss ends the Orange’s season as it finished without a quarterfinals birth in all three NCAA tournaments — team, singles and doubles.

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Published on May 25, 2018 at 4:30 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman